A mucky job

Here’s a career possibility for you. How would you like to cut up putrefying bodies in a country with no refrigeration where the daytime temperatures often rise over 40 degrees Celsius?

Give me teaching any day!

The ancient Egyptians had embalming down to a fine art. We know about their methods from both ancient sources (for example, Herodotus, the tourist and historian) and modern analysis. The essential process was to dry the body out by removing as much wet stuff as possible and salting the rest. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Not really. As you can no doubt imagine, many things can go wrong when you are working with a rotting body in sweltering heat, with jackals roaming around outside and the occasional incompetent embalmer thrown in for good measure.

My students always seem to be most revolted by the first part of the process. After the body was washed with Nile water, the brain was extracted with an iron hook. This was a tricky task, assisted somewhat by the tendency of the putrefying brain to become quite liquid. The embalmers would break the ethmoid bone and push it up into the cranial cavity, then draw down the brain with the hook. Fragments might also be scooped out with a long-handled spoon. Much of the remainder could be allowed to drip out through the nose. The ancient Egyptians didn’t realise that the brain was an important organ. They thought the seat of reason and emotion was the heart. Therefore they left the heart in and let the brain drain.

Gives a whole new meaning to that phrase, “brain drain”, doesn’t it?

For the high-class corpse the next part of the task was to cut into the flank and remove the stomach, lungs, liver and intestines. Such care was not taken for the cheaper methods of mummification. I’m describing the version used for pharaohs and nobles here. After all, this is a high-class blog.

A photo of Ramses II’s mummy, provided by Wikimedia Commons and in the public domain

The cavity would be packed with aromatic substances and linen, and the body would then have natron, a type of salt, packed around it. For forty days the body would be left to dry out, and after this period it looked darker, shrivelled and leathery. To make it appear more life-like, oils might be massaged into the stiff skin; in the later period the emaciated arms and legs were sometimes stuffed with various substances to make them look rounder and more human. The problem was that the fragile skin could easily be torn. This leads me inexorably to the topic of things that could go wrong.

This picture is used courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and is in the public domain. It shows clearly how the skin of a mummy became thin and the limbs emaciated-looking through the process of mummification.

All jobs have their bad points and embalming, perhaps, had more than most. It was easy to make mistakes and difficult to fix them. Embalmers who over-stuffed the limbs of mummies, for instance, could cause havoc. The cheeks of one princess now in the Cairo museum had been padded so much that they burst and had to be restitched. Sometimes bits of bodies were lost, including nipples and penises; they would be replaced with artificial versions, if the embalmer had a conscience. Rats and mice were occasionally caught for ever in the wrappings and mummified along with the person. Some mummies, when unwrapped, have been found to be missing a vital bodily part, such as a foot. All of this serves to show that mummification was a tricky operation.

Anubis performing his role as the protector of the dead; picture provided courtesy of www.freeclipartnow.com (public domain)

Anyway, after the body was cleaned and repacked with fresh stuffing, it would be bandaged with linen and put into a coffin in the shape of a human being – sometimes several coffins, each nesting in the next like those Russian Matryoshka dolls.

This image is a drawing of Egyptian coffins, provided by www.karenswhimsy.com

No students are ever harmed during our class mummifications. In fact, most students find that the process, while a touch gruesome, is highly entertaining. I knew I had a winning lesson when students started taking pictures of the process with their mobile phones. But the question is, during our class mummification will you be a competent embalmer, or will you be the type about whom an ancient Egyptian might make disparaging remarks?

There’s no way I’m giving my body to him. He’d be bound to lose a leg or some other part of me that I need for my afterlife. Why, he can’t even get to class without losing something. And I’m perfectly certain that he can’t sew.

Roslyn Green

History was my first love.
Then I made a psych blog: http://psychologyrats.edublogs.org/
After that I was hooked. So I made a German blog too:
http://germanisland.global2.vic.edu.au/
Thank you for visiting my blog. Other teachers are welcome to use any of my ideas, activities and handouts with their students.

Related

About the Author

History was my first love.
Then I made a psych blog: http://psychologyrats.edublogs.org/
After that I was hooked. So I made a German blog too:
http://germanisland.global2.vic.edu.au/
Thank you for visiting my blog. Other teachers are welcome to use any of my ideas, activities and handouts with their students.

Some old pictures of castles and siege weapons from www.fromoldbooks.org

Castle

Castle parts

Catapult

Oniger

The Tower of London

Siege of a castle

The ruins of Lindisfarne (one of the monasteries famously plundered by the Vikings)

An attack on a besieged tower

Woodcut of a medieval knight

This woodcut is eminently colourable. It is from a very old book and kindly provided by the website: www.fromoldbooks.org. It was created in the fifteenth century ; the knight carries the Fleurs-de-Lys, the French badge. The woodcut was made for an early printed book and was actually printed by William Caxton. Click on it to get a larger version for printing if you feel like a spot of medieval colouring.

7F 2009 Shields

Here is Divya’s shield, filled with many intriguing symbols. I love the detail and care shown in her drawings.
Tina chose for her motto: “A woman’s voice is as loud as a man’s.” She has expressed many of her strongest beliefs and hopes for the future in her shield, including equality, an end to racism and a just but merciful legal system. This is an inspiring shield, Tina.
I love the design of Daniel’s shield and his motto, “Think before you move,” which ties in well with his chessboard pattern and pieces. His patterned backgrounds are superb. Well done, Daniel!
Goutami’s shield: her final choice for a motto was “Life is a miracle”. I particularly like her panda. The animal chosen was supposed to be the one students imagined their patronus would be if they were at Hogwarts. This panda would be the right patronus for Goutami, I think. Wonderful work, Goutami!
Edy’s drawings are so detailed and artistic that I would like to employ him as my personal illustrator. He could help me with my handouts and draw pictures for my blog sidebars…Of course he might have other plans for his free time.
A beautiful shield with a wonderful optimistic motto…

Pictures from our State Library Excursion, May 2009

Audree shows her skills at Uncial script
Tina and Goutami try out Experimedia toys
A closeup of Audree’s Uncial
“Little Big Planet” game at the State Library
Medieval manuscript sample in our classroom
Some beautiful calligraphy
Divya at work
Edy shows his style
The teachers enjoyed it too
The beautiful old reading room
An inviting reading environment
Goutami’s calligraphy

Roslyn Green's blog for Year 7 and Year 8 History at Box Hill High School

Quirky pics by 7F, 2009

Egyptian figure by Edy 7F 2009
World War I trenches drawn in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry, by Will 7F 2009
Stone Age timeline by Bill 7F 2009
Egyptian-style goddess of the kitchen by Audree 7F 2009
Meeting of the Allied leaders in WWII - drawn in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry by Will 7F 2009
Egyptian crocodile by Edy 7F 2009
Anubis drawing by Audree 7F 2009
Audree made Llatiwonk take the form of a cat for her visit to ancient Egypt. What a great idea. (7F 2009)

RIP Neanderthals – a drawing of a Neanderthal who has been buried by his people. By Divya 7F 2009

Another extinct race – a mammoth by Divya 7F 2009

(Animation courtesy of animatedclipart.net)

Luigi’s Catapult

Luigi is a student from 7F in 2008 who created a working catapult when we studied medieval history. Not content with a physical catapult, he then created this little animation which, though slightly gruesome, struck me as very clever. Make me an animation and I'll show it on the blog and give you full credit. You'll be famous!

Check out a video…

Nexi – how I picture Llatiwonk

Laura shows us her lovely workbook…

Some people are notable, noteworthy and able to take notes. Laura is all of these. Here she is with her beautiful notes on ancient Egyptian farming. Since this triumph she has created a question box for the Night of Notables (she and Stephanie have chosen Cleopatra) in the shape of a pyramid. For an old teacher like me, pyramid-shaped question boxes (with a flipping lid formation) are a sign that a student has great potential, imagination and cardboard-working ability. Good on you, Laura!

THE COMMON PEOPLE

History often focuses on the rich and famous, but at our school we like to cover the common people as well. After all, they baked the bread, ploughed the fields, dragged the stone blocks for the pyramids and often went hungry. They deserve some credit.

A GRUESOME SPECTACLE

One of the activities in Year 7 history is mummification. Unfortunately the Ministry of Education frowns on teachers who wrap students in toilet paper - so we have to use a playdough mummy instead.